New Delhi: The Centre, late Monday night, partially modified its order of 23 July, appointing corporate affairs secretary Deepti Gaur Mukherjee, a 1993-batch Madhya Pradesh cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, as the higher education secretary. Mukherjee replaces Naresh Pal Gangwar, just 17 days after the latter’s appointment.
The Department of Higher Education oversees the National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET-UG. The agency has been in the eye of the storm after the NEET-UG exam held on 3 May was cancelled following complaints that the paper was leaked.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet order announcing the reshuffle of six other secretary rank officials, however, does not mention the new posting of Gangwar, a 1994 batch Rajasthan cadre IAS officer.
Gangwar was appointed the higher education secretary late on 23 July, replacing Vineet Joshi, a 1992 batch Manipur cadre IAS officer, at the peak of the anti-paper leak protests by students at the Capital’s Jantar Mantar. Joshi was moved out just three days after the police used tear gas and batons on student protesters marching towards Parliament, seeking the then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation over the NEET-UG paper leak.
Pradhan had to eventually resign on 25 July as the Gen Z protests continued and pressure mounted on the government to fix accountability.
Senior government officials told ThePrint that the transfer was routine administrative exercise as six other secretaries were reshuffled/appointed Monday. However, Gangwar’s appointment on 23 July was followed by social media outcry, citing an article in the Indian Express, over how his wife and son allegedly received over Rs 1.16 crore in government subsidies under the National Horticulture Board scheme.
Communist leader John Brittas posted on social media platform X, “The ultimate farce! While the nation demands accountability for exam scams & paper leaks, Govt appoints Naresh Pal Gangwar as the new Higher Education Secretary! This is the same IAS officer whose mother, wife & son collectively received over ₹1.16 crore in government subsidies under the National Horticulture Board scheme for “encouraging commercial crops” (cucumber cultivation). This the way PM ensuring accountability..”
Mounting pressure
Before being appointed higher education secretary, Gangwar was secretary in the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying. Despite the order, Joshi did not move out of the education ministry, continuing as higher education secretary.
Besides Gangwar, the Centre had on 24 July also appointed T. K. Anil Kumar, Additional Secretary in the Department of Rural Development, as the secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, the other department under the education ministry.
Till then Joshi was handling the charge of both the higher education and school education department after the latter’s secretary Sanjay Kumar, a Bihar cadre IAS officer retired on 1 July. Joshi was shifted to the Panchayati Raj ministry.
Some 22.7 lakh candidates had registered for the NEET-UG exam that was held on 6 May. Following the paper leak, the case went to the CBI, which has made arrests across states. A fresh examination was held again on 21 June. The results were declared on 16 July.
The students’ protests over the paper leak started soon after, led by the newly formed Cockroach Janata Party. The CJP protest gained momentum after climate activist Sonam Wangchuk started a hunger strike on 28 June.
The government was forced to act amid mounting protests. A high level taskforce headed by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani was instituted to look into how to improve India’s examination system.
The government also passed amendments to the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, making it more stringent and introducing special a fast track court to try offences under the anti-paper leak law.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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